The Halls of Wrath

After recovering from their encounter with the golem guarding the Halls of Wrath, and the statue of Karzoug, the heroes set about imbuing their weapons with the power of the Runeforge, creating dominant weapons that might be used against Karzoug.

Feeling prepared for whatever was waiting for them in the Halls of Wrath, the heroes ventured forward, ignoring the sense of unease they felt – the halls seemed too quiet. They stepped through one of the teleportation circles into a large hall, closed on one side by a wall of smoke. This wall turned out to be nothing but an illusion, but the enemy on the other side could see through it, meaning they were well-prepared for when the heroes finally stepped into the room containing a massive teleportation circle. This circle seemed to be the most likely way of escaping Runeforge, but it was well-guarded.

Highlady Athroxis was waiting for the heroes – it was the challenge she had been waiting for her entire life. She transformed into the guise of a fire giant and summoned a treachery demon to aid her. He in turn summoned two vrocks to face the heroes.

The fight was long and deadly, as Athroxis wielded both powerful spells and brutal melee attacks. Radha took a fatal blow from Athroxis’s flaming ranseur. Combined with the spores sprouting vines all over her body (thanks to the vrocks), Radha bled to death very quickly. Fortunately, Nanali had been watching the battle carefully, and dashed forward to cast breath of life on Radha before it was too late. By this time, Athroxis’s demonic minions had been dispatched, and Athroxis herself succumbed to the unrelenting attacks of Nu, Cecil and Ciaran – and Radha, before she fell.

All in all, the heroes were relieved to have survived facing the biggest challenge they had yet come across in Runeforge.